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quilt geek
Last week at the MFA several of us saw some quilts. I waffled about buying the exhibit book ($45), but decided to buy it because they didn't have a postcard of one quilt I particularly liked.
I stayed up way too late that night, flipping through the book. The next morning I woke up piecing a quilt -- I mean, in my head. I pulled a bag of worn-out jeans from the closet and cut them up into the biggest usable rectangles I could. I pushed the dining room table out of the way, laid out the pieces, and started sewing, using not only the pant legs but also any salvagable pockets. By the end of the day I had an 85" x 90" quilt top.
Since then I've been reading the book cover to cover. It's fascinating, the lives these women have led (told in their own words) and the circumstances in which the quilts were made. In spite of the fact that they made the quilts out of absolute necessity, many of the quilts are clearly planned and skillfully pieced, rather than just thrown together. At the museum I noted that many of the quilts have far more (and more decorative) hand-quilting than is strictly necessary to hold them together. Some of the quilters who where interviewed for the book mention that each woman would piece her quilt tops on her own, but they would all get together (a family of women, or everyone on one road) to quilt (sew the top and the backing and the cotton stuffing together). So it makes sense that when the time came to do the hand-sewing, they would put more time and effort into it, because that's the social step of quilt production.
I'd like to write to the woman who made my favorite quilt in the exhibit, maybe send her a picture of the quilt I'm working on.
I stayed up way too late that night, flipping through the book. The next morning I woke up piecing a quilt -- I mean, in my head. I pulled a bag of worn-out jeans from the closet and cut them up into the biggest usable rectangles I could. I pushed the dining room table out of the way, laid out the pieces, and started sewing, using not only the pant legs but also any salvagable pockets. By the end of the day I had an 85" x 90" quilt top.
Since then I've been reading the book cover to cover. It's fascinating, the lives these women have led (told in their own words) and the circumstances in which the quilts were made. In spite of the fact that they made the quilts out of absolute necessity, many of the quilts are clearly planned and skillfully pieced, rather than just thrown together. At the museum I noted that many of the quilts have far more (and more decorative) hand-quilting than is strictly necessary to hold them together. Some of the quilters who where interviewed for the book mention that each woman would piece her quilt tops on her own, but they would all get together (a family of women, or everyone on one road) to quilt (sew the top and the backing and the cotton stuffing together). So it makes sense that when the time came to do the hand-sewing, they would put more time and effort into it, because that's the social step of quilt production.
I'd like to write to the woman who made my favorite quilt in the exhibit, maybe send her a picture of the quilt I'm working on.
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One of my favorite things to see in a quilt is the quilt in the "quilt top" stage versus the "finished quilt" stage. It's like life is breathed (or occasionally strangled from) the piece via the quilting.
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